Farrell Among Design Competition Finalists

SMMA design technology dream-teamer and MIT School of Architecture and Planning master’s candidate Jamie Farrell has been selected as one of nine finalists in Flux’s 2015-16 Emerging Architects Design Competition. His submission, “Live Google Earth,” is a Revit-Flux-Rhino-Google Earth workflow prototype that will allow stakeholders—designers, policymakers, planners—to examine future built environments by observing design development in real time.

The entry responds to the challenge posed by the competition board: How might the AEC industry meet the demand for affordable and sustainable buildings in a world that, by 2050, will see more than 70% of its population living in urban areas? Jamie envisions Live Google Earth as the first of many steps toward the development of more cohesive, efficient, livable urban areas, borne of full transparency and open collaboration.

“Rapid urbanization is exciting, but with it come design problems that require well-examined solutions,” said Jamie. “I wanted to build something that questioned existing procurement workflows by borrowing methods from networked computing and web storage. We create smart virtual models of physical space—this is a first attempt to join disparate collections.”

Beyond certain technical requirements, entrants’ projects will be judged on their potential, creativity, simplicity, and transferability. The jury pool comprises members of companies like Sidewalk Labs, BIG, Google, and Gensler—a fact that Jamie said inspired him to “take a crack at something far outside the box.”

“As we explore the role of technology and innovation in the building design and construction process, communication of design intent must be a priority,” Jamie’s submission states. “The benefits of transparency and coordination extend beyond aesthetics and are crucial to the comfort, performance, value, and sustainability of our designed environments.”

Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open to the general public until February 25th. Visit Flux.io/compete for complete details.